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That was just one sentence among many examples of how regulation of the rental market causes problems. And even if only a part of the property base is under ren

That was just one sentence among many examples of how regulation of the rental market causes problems. And even if only a part of the property base is under rent control, it is a part of the market, and has impact on the whole of the market. Moreover, attempts to increase the scope of rent control are also a risk for potential developers and thus decrease the incentive for construction. However, outside the usual Assar Lindbeck quote, I wouldn't believe that rent control is the biggest thing in SF area - regulation of construction, the difficulty to get zoning and permits, is the biggest problem. I don't live there but in Europe, but we suffer from the same problems: politicians are unwilling to acknowledge the existence of market forces, [edit] or they imagine and pretend that they can control those forces merely with a because-we-say-so, so they speak of rent control, but the real solution is to allow more construction.

tesseract 10y ago
I tend to agree. It doesn't look like a rent control issue to me. I live on the Peninsula where there is no rent control, and rents are skyrocketing just as much as in the City. Instead it seems to me like there are just too many mechanisms (zoning, environmental review, etc.) whereby homeowners and incumbent landlords can act on their (eminently logical, but self-serving) concerns that 'cheap housing will destroy my property value' and prevent housing from being built, or limit the density of new development. Something I am surprised not to see discussed more often is the effect on the market of "affordable housing" which in the political lingo refers specifically to means-tested below-market-rate housing. By splitting the housing market into market-rate and below-market pools it actually props up prices of the former and seems like it may (I haven't seen any good analyses on this to be honest) prevent new construction from having as strong of a restraining effect on rents overall as it otherwise might.

tesseract 10y ago

I tend to agree. It doesn't look like a rent control issue to me. I live on the Peninsula where there is no rent control, and rents are skyrocketing just as much as in the City. Instead it seems to me like there are just too many mechanisms (zoning, environmental review, etc.) whereby homeowners and incumbent landlords can act on their (eminently logical, but self-serving) concerns that 'cheap housing will destroy my property value' and prevent housing from being built, or limit the density of new development. Something I am surprised not to see discussed more often is the effect on the market of "affordable housing" which in the political lingo refers specifically to means-tested below-market-rate housing. By splitting the housing market into market-rate and below-market pools it actually props up prices of the former and seems like it may (I haven't seen any good analyses on this to be honest) prevent new construction from having as strong of a restraining effect on rents overall as it otherwise might.